Walking Dead Fanfiction: World changed, changed utterly
by Instinct Uncaged
Summary: Weeks after the outbreak, bands of survivors struggle to survive. In a world owned by the dead the living must be strong in order to survive. New struggles and decisions leave people changed as they try to live on in this...changed world, changed utterly.
1. Chapter 1

**Walking Dead Fanfic**

It was dark inside the apartment, an inky blackness seemed to cloak everything. The curtains were drawn shut. Didn't matter if they weren't though the street lights outside had gone dark weeks ago along with all the other power.

John walked softly over to the cupboard and pulled out a granola bar, wincing at the sound that the door closing made. He had been trained over the past few weeks to fear any kind of loud noises that might attract….._them_. He padded softly over to his couch and gently lowered himself into it. He'd done not too badly he thought to himself, people had always thought he was a bit odd, preparing for disasters that would never come, thinking he was paranoid just because he slept with a 1911 semi-automatic under his pillow, just because he kept his emergency gear stocked up, JUST! Because he happened to keep an AR12 and a Mossberg in his apartment. He chuckled quietly to himself as he bit into the granola bar. Well they could all suck it because right now he was the survivor and they'd all been munched on, or at least that's what he'd presumed had happened because he could usually always hear moaning, scuffling outside the door of the apartment, which he kept locked for obvious reasons, the screaming had stopped after the first week or so. Could've sworn he'd heard knocks at his door a couple of times but he always told himself to push it to the back of his mind. There were better things to do these days than stick your neck out for someone you didn't like.

Anne did her best to hold in her scream. She covered her mouth with her hands as she hid in the closet. She was trembling, fear completely gripped her and she could hear and feel the shuffling of feet just outside. Where was Lucy? She'd disappeared as soon as the things got close. Mindless cadavers roamed the streets of the city now in search of fresh meat. The shuffling got nearer, she tried to make herself stop trembling, telling herself it would be alright, mouthing it to herself until she finally muttered it once and stopped realising what she had just done. The shuffling stopped. Gone? She quietly stood up but banged into an ironing board bruising her arm, the metal clanged together and she winced. The huge force slammed against the cupboard door. Anne screamed. She couldn't help it, "no, no, no, no, no no!" she cried, tears streaming down her face as she pressed against the door shaking her head. It couldn't end like this, she'd gotten through everything for this long only to meet her grisly demise now.

The force slammed against the door again and it was smashed open. Anne just couldn't hold it back, the door pinned her against the wall behind it as the cadaver hit the floor. The face turned towards her, it had grey skin and it was rotting away around the mouth and jaw bone. She screamed again as the zombie tried to get up, pushing the door against it, slamming it on the thing's head. Again and again she did it but the thing just wouldn't die, it stretched out its arms reaching towards her uttering a guttural snarl.

Then a wooden pole with a sharpened point speared through its head. Anne stopped, startled as blood spattered onto the ground darkening the wooden floor with its colour. The walker went limp and stopped. She stepped back from behind the door and peered round. There was Lucy, holding the wooden pole. She pulled it out of the walker's head with a wet sound and looked at Anne giving her a weak smile. Anne ran into her arms and sobbed in her shoulder, Lucy's long auburn hair soft against her.

Sean crouched low behind a car in the street. The walkers wandered aimlessly down the middle, they seemed oh so very docile when they weren't trying to devour you he remarked to himself. He quietly zipped open his rucksack to see what he had left; down to his last bottle and a half of water, couple of cereal bars, a sandwich that he'd made using the last of his supplies, which had probably seen better days, a Molotov he had badly put together, he checked to make sure none had spilt in his bag. He had a Glock in the back of his jeans that he'd gotten off of a dead police officer, he wasn't going to need it, and a screwdriver that he had scrounged off the ground.

He could use the Molotov to distract the walkers….but that would probably only attract even more of them to his area. Then he heard a faint muffled scream that nearly made him jump. He looked around trying to figure out where it came from but the sound was already gone. It sounded like it had come from one of the big apartment complexes though. If there were people there that would be as safe a bet as any to find them. He drew out the screwdriver as a walker shuffled round the side of the car, he closed the distance between him and it quickly. As it stretched out it's arms and snarled, he put the screwdriver through one of it's eyes. The walker went limp immediately and fell backwards off of it onto the ground. Sean crouched back down low as several walkers started to stumble towards the car. He sprinted into the alley closest to the apartment block, the walkers snarling behind him. He looked around desperately trying to find a fire escape as the walkers entered the alley. There! He saw it, just out of his reach. He climbed onto a closed dumpster as the walkers drew closer, then he took a run and jumped. The walkers stretched out there arms trying to grab him and…..missed.

Sean clung to the fire escape ladder for dear life with both hands, then hauled himself up so that he could put his feet on the ladder too. It's never easy is it, he thought to himself.

Rob looked round, Angela, Michael, Jenipher and Stacey all followed up behind him, kitted out in their full combat gear. The U.S army wasn't completely gone yet, not while they still drew breath. Stacey looked down the scope of her sniper rifle into the street, "nothing Cap just a shit ton of dead wanderin down there" she reported as she surveyed the area.

"Same as always" muttered Jenipher, her rifle hanging from it's sling as she took a drink out of her canteen.

"I told you this was pointless" said Michael, wiping the nervous sweat from his brow and keeping his rifle ready.

"Shut up Mike, you jumpy bastard" hissed Angela, "we do as the Captain Thomson says, end of discussion".

Rob held up his hand for silence as he looked down into the street. The walkers were gathering, a large group of them were shuffling into an alleyway, "somethin's gettin them all riled up" he murmured as he looked down the Acog sight of his own m4. He couldn't see down the alley he could only see the walker's swarming round it tring to get in.

"We should take our chance now Cap" said Michael to Rob putting a hand on his shoulder, "while their all distracted we can get outta here, make a break for it you know". He sounded pleading with his last note.

Rob usually didn't have time for weak willed soldiers, he needed people with the steel and fortitude to endure, but he had to admit that they were doing well for everything they had been through. Slowly he nodded, "ok Bravo we're movin out, let's try and scrounge some last supplies, then we're headin for the coast". The team began to move out, their footsteps almost silent amid the guttural snarls of the walkers down below in the street. As he closed the door behind him he coud've sworn that he heard a faint scream from somewhere, but decided that his mind was playing tricks on him and shook it from his head before continuing on down the stairs.


	2. Chapter 2

**Walking Dead fanfiction Chp 2**

Lucy gently parted with Anne and wiped a tear from her face, "come on, lets go" she whispered softly, closing the door on the dead walker. Anne nodded, smiling weakly. "We need to search for some gear" said Lucy more business like, "we're running low as it is". The life long friends parted and Lucy went over to the cupboards and opened them.

Anne took a deep breath, glanced at the door behind which was the dead walker, then went into the kitchen and pulled out a knife out of the kitchen drawer. Can't rely on people for everything she thought to herself, she had to stop being a burden to Lucy. She twirled the knife in her hand and caught it, yeah, that felt good she thought as she grinned to herself.

"Be careful with that" said Lucy warily.

"It's fine" said Anne feeling a little better, "I just need something to help me defend myself".

"Good" said Lucy nodding approvingly as she pulled a bottle of water out of the cupboard, "score!" she grinned taking a drink out of it and passing it to Anne who gratefully took a drink out of it. They both took a moment to think while they searched for anything fruitful but the bottle of water was all they found. Gunshots sounded and they both whirled towards the door, Lucy with her sharpened pole and Anne with her knife. They looked at each other then slowly opened the door.

The two walkers hit the ground with a muffled thud, smoke drifted lazily from the end of Sean's glock. He didn't want to have to use the gun but went there was more than one of them in a close space he wasn't going to risk it, but at the same time he knew he had to be conservative with his ammo too, he'd have to pick his battles carefully.

He stepped carefully over the bodies and moved further down the corridor, keeping his pistol at the ready. A door at the bottom of the corridor creaked open slightly. "Hello" said Sean cautiously, "someone there?"

John peered out the creak of the door staring down the corridor towards the guy with the pistol. He could recognise it as a glock even from this distance, they were good reliable guns he thought to himself. He held his Mossberg tight and aimed at the guy just so that the whole barrel of the gun stuck out of the door. "Go away" he said warily aiming straight at the guy.

Sean aimed his glock at the barrel protruding from the darkness inside the apartment, "a don't want any trouble" he said calmly but kept the glock aimed notheless, "a was just looking for some supplies and for people that need help".

The shotgun stayed trained on him before John said, "well supplies are here but not for you and as you can see I don't need any help, now go before I decide I need one of those glocks you've got there".

"Ok I'll be going now" he backed up down the corridor till he got to a junction where he could turn. He just started to turn when he heard the pump of the shotgun chambering a round and he jumped behind the corner. The shotgun sounded and several holes were blown in the wall as the burst round hit it. "Shit" muttered Sean sprinting back round the corner and down the next corridor, he ran down another corridor and down a flight of stairs before finally coming to a halt at another corridor. He never did think of how dangerous the living would be in the world ruled by the dead, he'd normally imagined they'd try to band together but he'd never fully considered that they'd try gun each other down when they actually had supplies, how knieve of him. He had closed his eyes for a moment lost in his train of thought but he was brought out of it by the blade of a knife being pressed rather close to his throat. "No way" he said with a groan, opening his eyes.

A girl with long brown hair that went down her back had her knife against his throat, another girl stood behind her with shoulder length auburn hair holding a sharpened pole. "Drop it" said Anne gesturing to the pistol.

"Ye know you're the second survivor to threaten me today" said Sean bitterly, clicking the safety on the glock and letting it fall to the ground with a clatter.

"Must be your lucky day scotty" said Lucy jibing at his accent sarcastically, "what's in the pack?"

"Not much" said Sean wearily, Anne bent down to pick up the gun and he noticed her focus switch and saw his opportunity. He quickly knocked the knife from her hand, grabbing her tightly and put the screwdriver to her throat, Anne let out a gasp as it happened quickly. "Ok look" said Sean exasperatedly, "I mean you guys no harm, seriously I just got away from another guy that just tried to pump me full of holes with a shotgun so I would really appreciate if we could just talk like nice civil people ok! No guns, no death threats just talk ok".

Lucy looked at Anne then gave him a hard, questioning stare, "What other guy?"

Rob looked out from the alley onto the street as his squad attatched the silencers onto their guns. There was still a crowd of walkers by the alley opposite the street but they were slowly dispersing now. Rob spied a Humvee down at the bottom of the street. "Stacey get me eyes on that Humvee I wanna know exactly how many of those things are between us and the Humvee" he whispered through his throat microphone.

There was a short pause as Stacey looked down her scope towards the Humvee, "I count nineteen, no make that twenty three, twenty three biters between us and the Humvee. Gotta warn you though Cap, there's a big T-junction just where the Humvee is, I have zero visibility down there".

"That's fine" said Rob calmly, "we don't really have many other options here and I'm sure I'm not the only one that doesn't want to die in this city". The rest of the squad nodded in silent agreement. "Then ready up because we're movin out" he said grimly, determination evident on his face, chambering a round in his rifle. He shouldered the rifle, putting a hand on Stacey's shoulder for her to fall back in with the squad. He crouched down on one knee at the edge of the alley facing onto the street. "Ready?" he murmured. He felt the hand on his shoulder to signal that they were ready to go.

He stood up and walked onto the street at a brisk pace, looking down the sights of the rifle. He fired a volley semi-automatic shots at the biters. His first round hit one in the shoulder, congealed blood burst from the wound and spattered onto the ground. The second hit the thing in the head and collapsed in a heap onto the ground. Behind him he could hear the barks of more gunfire as his squad kept a tight formation behind him. The Humvee was now just over five hundred meters away now and they were closing the gap. "Keep moving" said Rob keeping his focus on taking down the biters walking down the street towards them, "headshots to kill, let's pick up the pace".

The squad moved a little quicker towards the vehicle. There were about ten biters left in front of them. Rob took focussed, accurate shots at one, the rounds punching through it's head and it fell to the ground. Four more barks and another two fell, the squad kept moving until all of a sudden a scream sounded. Rob whirled round. Jenipher had been grabbed by one of the biters lying on the ground. She panicked firing a full auto clip into the things back, Michael froze in place, not moving, horrified by the sight as the biter gripped her leg and clamped it's jaws down on her ankle. Blood spurted from the deep gouge as the biter tore away the red flesh.

"Stacey, Michael, Angela, cover fire now!" Rob shouted, raising the rifle to shoot the biter. He had to be careful not to hit her, but his aim was true and the shot went through the biter's head from side to side. Jenipher fell down onto the ground holding her leg.

"No!" she said desperately holding her leg, "no, no, no, no , no!" Rob knelt down next to her.

"Come on, we're getting out of here" he said over the barks of rifle fire"

"No I'm done" said Jenipher, "I'll only slow you down"

"We're getting out of here" repeated Rob, "that's an order now move your ass". He looped her arm over his shoulder, aiming his rifle from his hip and supporting Jenipher. "Move!"

The squad reformed Rob supporting Jenipher in the middle with the rest of the squad around them. More biters were appearing on both sides of them now. The squad strafed the area in front of the Humvee with gun-fire and cleared the area. The bundled into the Humvee, Michael in the driver's seat, Angela in the passenger side, Stacey climbed to the top and manned the fifty calibre machine gun. Rob gently lowered Jenipher into the back before climbing in himself, slamming the door behind him.

"Drive!" he yelled, the tyres of the Humvee screeched and the fifty calibre machine gun roared as the Humvee leapt forward, smashing aside a saloon as it powered through the streets.


	3. Chapter 3

**Walking Dead Fanfiction Chapter 3**

The humvee's engine growled viciously as it barrelled down the final street leading towards the highway. Stacey fired the fifty-cal machine gun nearly continuously, the huge rounds practically cutting the walkers in front of them in half. The humvee was tough but if enough bodies slammed themselves into the front of it, there was a fairly good chance they would get stuck, and Stacey wasn't going to let that happen. She grimaced as she kept firing, the defeaning roar of the huge machine gun drowning out nearly all other sounds. "Come on" she muttered to herself, her voice not even audible, "come on we can do it. We're almost there". She didn't want anyone else to hear what she was saying, she was mainly just trying to reassure herself. Then the humvee turned the final corner and drove onto the highway out of the city. Stacey allowed herself a smile, the highway looked clear, no walkers or anything. "I think we made it!" she said happily, her smile broadening a little, but then she looked down into the humvee and the smile was wiped completely from her face. With her attention now from the machine gun, she could hear and see what was going on inside the humvee.

Rob desperately tried to apply his third pressure pad that he had on him in an attempt to stem the flow of blood from Jenipher's ankle. _It just won't stop_ he thought to himself as he applied pressure to the wound. Jenipher let out a scream of agony when he did so. "Ok just hang on Jenipher" he said reassuringly to her, "I'm just gonna have a look and see what it's like". He had no faith what so ever that he would be able to treat this but he was the leader, he had morale to maintain. But when would the line between maintaining morale and just pointless lying end. He gently peeled away some of the blood soaked pad from the wound and held back a wave of nausea. The biter had torn through most of the flesh around Jenipher's ankle, the bone was clearly visible, coated a congealing shade of brown from the blood soaked on it, he could also feel heat coming off of her skin.

"How am I doin Cap?" Jenipher manage through her grimace. She was propped up on her elbows and staring at him, sweat all over her skin.

"I've seen people through worse" said Rob reassuringly, pulling the pads away and wrapping a generous amount of guaze around the wound. He certainly couldn't stop that much blood, but the amount had gotten less. It wasn't a lie, he had seen people through worse. Rob had been a soldier for nearly ten years now and he'd seen his fair share of grotesque injuries. He had received a silver star for carrying a man who had his legs blown off by a land mine, over his shoulders. The man had pulled through and to his own knowledge Rob believed the man lived a decent civillian life.

Jenipher merely nodded and lay back down to hide her expressions of pain, her breathing deep, and slow. Stacey ducked down inside of the humvee and leaned against the back of the passengers seat, keeping her distance from Jenipher, an uneasy expression on her face as she looked at the floor. Michael kept his eyes on the road as he drove, he wiped the nervous sweat from his brow hastily with one hand before gripping the wheel again tightly. Angela sat quietly in the passenger side, also watching the road and looking out her window for road signs.

"So Captain" said Michael finally breaking a long uneasy silence during which the sound of Jenipher's breathing was the only noise, "where are we heading?"

"The coast corporal" said Rob, looking from Jenipher's newly dressed wound to the front of the humvee, "keep driving till you see water, there'll be aircraft carriers out at sea, all we need to do it try send out a signal and wait". Michael nodded at this.

"Sir we don't even know if there are any aircraft carriers at sea anymore" said Angela abruptly. Stacey and Rob both looked at her, Michael's face tensed a little.

"No we don't" said Rob wearily, "but it's our best chance of regrouping with other forces, we may even find some along the...".

Stacey looked at him, "what?" she asked, puzzled by him suddenly stopping. Rob pulled off his helmet and put a finger to his lips then pointed to Jenipher lying at the back of the humvee. Her chest had stopped rising and falling.

"The other guy about one floor up from here" said Sean picking his pistol up off the ground, and looking at the two girls. He had let the brown haired one go after a moment of tense silence, seeming to mean that neither party would in fact try to murder the other. They were not unattractive actually Sean noticed as he picked the gun up but maybe now wasn't the best time to be trying to hook up with a girl who either nearly slit his throat or spear him through the head. "He claims to have loads of supplies though not for anyone else" he explained, sliding the magazine out to check how much ammo he had left, only five rounds left. He was going to have to make them count, "that's where I was running from when you two..." he trailed off trying to think of a polite way to say what had just happened, "found me".

"So what are we going to do about it?" asked Anne, looking from the new stranger who was taller than her to Lucy, "we can't just walk up there and take his stuff".

"Well..." said Sean trailing off again

"Whoa just hang on a second there" said Lucy slightly agressively, her face hardening a little as she looked at the stranger, "what you're talking about there is stealing and who knows what else we might have to do to get some stuff, it may even be murder". She gave him another hard stare for a moment, "do you really think you could take a life just for the possibility of supplies?" she asked

"He was perfectly happy to make me target practice just for the possiblity of getting my gun" said Sean, now irritated at being made out as the bad guy again, "besides the guy doesn't look like he's starving, but I can't do this on my own".

"Who said we were going with you anyway?" said Anne fixing her gaze on the stranger, but Lucy put a hand on her shoulder.

"Well I..." Sean faltered for a moment. It had probably been rash to assume that they were just going to help him straight off the bat like that. He felt his face suddenly get very hot.

Lucy laughed a little, "look Anne, you can still make guys blush even these days".

"Sorry" managed Sean looking at the ground.

"It's fine" Lucy said, "we were going to do it anyway, we need the stuff too but this is a one time thing ok, we will not go robbing people after this and if you keep doing it we will leave and you can fend for yourself again, it's also not payback for you got it?". Sean nodded and looked up at her. "Good" she said giving a small smile, "my name is Lucy and I'll be your acomplice today" her smile turned to a slight grin, "and this is Anne" she said gesturing to the girl beside her.

"I'm Sean" he said to them allowing his own small smile at the joke, "so how are we going to do this?"

John was sitting on his sofa listening to music from his phone in the dark again. The electricity had long since gone out but he had bought wind up chargers for most of his electronic gear, well the stuff he could get anyway. His parents had always warned him from looking at screens in the dark unless he wanted carpool tunnel vision, whatever that was so he just had the music on and closed his eyes.

Then a sudden rapid knocking at his door could be heard, accompanied by a voice. He pulled out one of his headphones, the voice was faint through the door but the person was asking to be let in. He shook his head and put the earphone back in. He turned the volume up but the noise persisted, getting louder the knocking was now a audible banging, the voice nearly a shout. It was going to attract those things here and he didn't exactly want to test his safehouse.

Irritated John got up and strode quickly to the door, "be quiet!" he said angrily through the door, looking through the hole at a brown haired girl who was clearly in tears and still banging on the door with considerable force.

"Please!" pleaded the girl desperately, pressing against the door, "those things...they got my friend, you have to help me"

"Your friend is dead" said John flatly, "go away before you get me killed too".

"Please" the girl said again in a soft voice before falling to her knees and crying.

"Fine give me a sec" said John walking away from the door. He had absolutely no intention of letting the girl inside his safehouse. He pulled his shotgun out of his weapons cabinet and walked towards the door. Some days were just better than others. He aimed the shotgun and started to unlock the door, "ok step back" he said clearly, "I'm going to open the door and let you in". He slid the chain off and, still aiming the shotgun, opened the door, the barrel of the gun protruding into the hallway. She was gone.

Then suddenly the door was pulled fully ajar and the barrel of the gun was wrenched forwards. The brown haired girl and another girl slipped through the door while John was pinned against the wall. Another guy fighting with him, the gun held side-ways between the two of them.

"Quick!" hissed Lucy when they were inside the apartment, Sean and the other guy fighting outside still, "grab whatever you think will be useful and put in the bags". Anne nodded wiping away her fake tears and started going through the cupboards.

"Look" she said, nodding towards the open gun cabinet and went over to it.

Sean grimaced as he held the guy against the wall as best he could. The guy maybe had a couple inches on him but definitely didn't have as much muscle. He didn't want to have to hurt the guy but this wasn't exactly going to end with them just leaving. Then the guy's leg shot up and caught Sean between the legs.

Sean gasped, "bastard!" he managed angrily, dropping down to one knee. The guy tried to bring the rifle to bear on Sean, but Sean slammed his shoulder into the guy's gut, knocking the wind out of the other man and making him drop the shotgun. Sean backed up a little to get some room to move about, but still kept himself between the other guy and the shotgun. The guy caught his breath and raised his hands in an amateur boxing stance. Sean raised his own hands on guard.

Then the punches came fast. Sean ducked under one and slammed an uppercut into the man's stomach but then a huge cross caught him in the shoulder making him stagger slightly. _This guy used to box? _he thought to himself. But as soon as he took his focus off the fight, the other guy caught him across the face with another cross, just above the eyebrow. The blow made Sean's head spin and he staggered back, tripping over something and landing on the floor. His vision went red for a moment and he could feel something wet running down the side of his head, but wasn't sure whether it was blood or sweat.

John advanced towards his now bleeding attacker who was on the ground. He smirked a little. He knew that kick-boxing training had never worn off. He may have lost his toning since all this happened but in a fight he could still be dangerous. He walked towards the guy until he realised what the person had tripped over. His shotgun! The guy picked it up and aimed it at John. "Look you guys attacked me" he said desperately.

Sean glared angrily at the man before throwing the gun on the ground behind him. "No" he said venomously, pulling out the glock and dropping that too, "you fired at me first". Then he ran at the other guy, it seemed as if he were about to tackle the other guy but at the last moment Sean brought his leg up and slammed it into the man's exposed side as hard as he could. The guy slammed into the wall and Sean tried to land a quick punch, the guy easily parrying the jab but not the following elbow to the side of the head.

John hit the ground after the elbow hit him, pain exploding in his head just above the temple. He tried to shake away the darkness the seemed to now be closing in around the edge of his vision but it only seemed to grow.

Sean put his leg down on the other guy's throat getting ready to punch him when a shout sounded. He turned.

"It's time to go" said Lucy firmly, walking over to him and pulling his arm so that he stood up as the other guy passed out. Sean nodded and allowed the girl to lead him away, following the two of them. Each carrying new things


End file.
